Power outage on the south side of town Friday evening was caused by a house fire on Highway 27 between South Main and Shattuck Industrial.

Channel 3 reports the home was destroyed; still no word on what started the blaze. Check LU Facebook today for the latest information.     

Lingering road issues from Tuesday’s snow resulted in class being canceled through Friday in most local schools. Meanwhile, discussion heats up on Times Free Press Facebook about school policies regarding snowy roads and early dismissal.

How does an inch of snow in the South result in day-long traffic jams and kids stuck in busses or huddled together overnight at school? Here’s some perspective from Birmingham, and here’s some analysis (from a commuter stuck in traffic) of what went wrong in Atlanta on Tuesday.

Politico argues that the whole mess could have been avoided if everyone in Atlanta lived in the city instead of the suburbs, and the state had more mass transit. Probable House District 1 candidate Tom McMahan is arguing the same thing in his Facebook group: the state should build more mass transit, trains, busses, etc. and then when it snows we can all just pack into our city or county or state vehicles and not worry about road conditions.

EXCEPT all that mass transit would have shut down exactly like the school busses. If Georgia dug up its roads and put in mass-transit trains and electric busses and unicorn-powered public taxis, everybody would have been stuck at work until Friday and the kids would be eating cold beans at school because nobody would have a car to pick them up.                     

Hutcheson leaders bizarrely accuse Erlanger of doing more than $20 million in damage during two years it managed the Fort O. medical facility. Seems they intend to not repay Erlanger loans and also get MORE cash from the Chattanooga nonprofit hospital in a counter-claim lawsuit.

If Hutcheson loses the case it will either be sold to pay back loans, or Walker and Catoosa residents will eat the $20 million owed to Erlanger (plus another $40+ million owed to Regions Bank) through higher property taxes. (Options to sell the hospital last year, rejected out of concern for losing control, are in hindsight looking better and better.)

Friday Hutcheson announced an operating profit of $182,044 in December. That doesn’t include what the hospital lost to interest accumulating on its massive debts.

Hutcheson Health Foundation, the hospital’s nonprofit fundraising arm, recently contributed $420,000 to purchase new equipment for a GI lab.

That’ll look sweet sitting out front in the parking lot during an auction after Erlanger wins their lawsuit in 2018.     

LaFayette resident James Lee Clark, age 48, was arrested on McLemore St. a week ago after waving around a knife and threatening to kill someone. He’s described as mentally unstable and apparently went off his meds.   

Senator Mullis stumbles through another legislative update video, taking entirely too long to explain where he’s from and absolutely no time telling us what he’s doing in Atlanta:

(Only good thing about that clip is the mercifully short length.)

Gov. Deal’s proposed 2014 budget (briefly mentioned by Mullis) includes $13 million to purchase, outfit, and operate an “air ambulance” for residents of 14 South GA counties that currently lack such services.

This would be the first, and only, state-operated ambulance of any kind in Georgia. 14 counties potentially served have a population of roughly 270,000 people. $13 million is about $48 per year per resident.

Also under the Gold Dome, a proposed new law would allow Georgia residents to substitute a cell phone image of their driver’s license for the actual license when required by law enforcement. An image of photo ID would not be allowed for purposes of age verification or voting.       

Thursday a group of teens near Calhoun decided to walk across a frozen pond. The ice didn’t hold up and four fell through, one did not get out alive.

It’s not cold enough here for long enough to have ice sufficiently thick to hold anyone’s weight. Be careful out there.   

Yesterday was the final day of early voting for the House District 2 runoff election, between Steve Tarvin and Neal Florence. The actual final vote will be Tuesday and one of them will be sworn into the General Assembly probably on Wednesday of next week.   

Tuesday when Chattooga County roads got slick, Georgia State Patrol officers were left stranded by their shiny new Dodge Chargers and had to be chauffeured around by deputies driving beater Ford Crown Vics and forest rangers with SUV’s.

(That’s the same vehicle Walker County Sheriff’s Dept. just spent $233,000 to buy ten of.)   

Last week a housing authority apartment on Doc Love Ave. was burglarized. A thief, or thieves, took a TV, PS4, and related games. No suspects have been ID’d so far.   

For years North Georgia EMC has offered customers an option to round their monthly bills to the next whole dollar amount, with the difference going to various charities chosen by the power co.

Beginning in March, ALL NGEMC customers will be enrolled in “Operation Round Up” automatically, and must then opt-OUT if they prefer not to contribute to the fund.

Customers will be getting (or already got) a notice of this in their bill but it’s easy to overlook, and easier to pay a few extra cents a month than call or mail the company to decline. It’s not exactly forced, and customers can opt out, but it is somewhat sneaky.

Most people who participate will pay less than $10 extra a year, which isn’t a whole lot of money, but seems shady that they’re doing it this way.   

GA Schools Superintendent John Barge, running for governor, visited Chickamauga Monday to spend time with school leaders. Barge accuses Gov. Deal and other state leaders of intentionally destroying public education by cutting funds over the last decade.

Barge, as superintendent, has done nothing to streamline the state education bureaucracy and make schools more efficient even while crying about loss of funds. He’s also laid out a blanket accusation against ALL Georgia Republicans, accusing them of being anti-school, even as he seeks nomination as the Republican candidate for governor. Probably not a good strategy.

Barge is currently polling way, way behind both Nathan Deal AND David Pennington, for obvious reasons.   

Tonight from 6 to 9, Back Alley Productions will be auditioning for several roles in an upcoming play – “See How They Run.” Auditions, and the play itself, will be held at Mars Theater.   

Sunday afternoon from 2 to 4, LaFayette Library will host “Super Sunday Open House” to push recruitment for Friends of the Library. Event will feature an auction and refreshments, along with a presentation from library director Lecia Eubanks about future plans for Cherokee Regional Library system and its four branches.   

Heirlooms Vintage Boutique & Rentals will be offering a “chalk paint” class next weekend. Today is the deadline to register – call 706 638-0034.   

Georgia has lost $9 million in federal education funds by abandoning requirements tying teacher pay to job performance.

Teachers are left deciding if they should complain about the state losing money or celebrate their salaries not being connected to student achievement.   

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